Monday, October 14, 1985
Daily Nebraskan
Page.9
Sheen exhibits strong sense of humanity
Arts
-. - .. .-. ... ' . " - - - - " ;
By Bill Allen
and Tom Mockler
Staff Reporters
An outspoken yet sensitive Martin
Sheen revealed a side of himself Satur
day night on the stage of the Sheldon
Film Theatre that movie audiences
have seen for a long time.
The actor revealed humanity, good
and bad.
Sheen, speaking after the screening
of his 1973 film "Badlands," one of his
self-proclaimed best works, openly
answered questions from a capacity
crowd for 90 minutes, not limiting the
questions to any one topic and covering
a range of his political, religious and
'When Emilio (his
son, actor Emilio
Estevez) and I
were walking
along the streets of
India, I was
somewhat horri
fied by the poverty
and the depriva
tion, particularly
among the child
ren, and I resisted
it for a long
time... You can only
close your eyes for
so long before you
must surrender to
what 's in front of
you. 9
Martin Sheen
professional beliefs.
About "Badlands," an independent
film loosely based on the exploits of
former Lincoln residents Charles
Starkweather and Caril Fugate, Sheen
said the movie was mainly the artistic
creation of director Terrance Malick.
"It makes a statement about how we
view our criminals sometimes with
great admiration," Sheen said. "Kit
became a hero. That disturbed Terry
greatly. He wanted us to think about
our criminals."
Sheen reiterated his views on some
of the issues he addressed in a Friday
talk at College View Seventh Day
Adventist church.
"Mr. Reagan is an ancient mummer
who doesn't read very much and is not
involved very much with people. He has
no women around him. He has no
blacks. He has no Hispanics. . .he
doesn't really have his hands on the
pulse of this country. He has been iso
lated by a group of mostly elitist men,
rather right-wing thinking militarists,
and there's very little compassion in
that group. . . (their policies) are
indicative of rejectionist thinking
which I think is somewhere in the last
century."
Sheen was equally as outspoken
when speaking on the injustices of the
Vietnam War and the changes that took
place in his personality during the
making of his epic film "Apocalypse
Now."
"What we were saying was, basically,
it doesn't matter who your commander-in-chief
is, or even who your field com
mander is; if you engage in acts of war
and you take human life, you, as French
author Albert Camus said, cross a cer
tain line which you cannot return
to. . . we are saying you have to take
personal responsibility for the acts you
commit. In this case, we tried to show
that war is insane it is disharmo
ny. . . very often taking personal re
ponsibility for such acts is a devastat
ing situatioa"
Sheen carried the point further by
saying this is where the Vietnam vete
rans are today in their thinking.
"You (veterans) must accept the
responsibility for the facts. . . In that
respect, the movie was anti-war," he
V"
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' Andrea HoyDally Nebraskan
Martin Sheen shows some of the intensity that makes him a versatile actor as he talks on the Sheldon Film Theatre
stage Saturday night.
said. 'Today the veterans have to accept
the fact that the government who sent
them there is gone. . . the ideology is
over."
Sheen, who is very active in the
peace movement, was thanked for his
comments by a Vietnam veteran in the
audience.
On almost every question about his
acting career, Sheen expanded into
some statement about life, or his philo
sophy on it. Raised a Catholic, Sheen
said the film "Gandhi" helped him
return to his religion. He has been an
active Catholic ever since, he said.
"Gandhi said that poverty was the
worst form of violence," Sheen said.
"When Emilio (his son, actor Emilio
Estevez) and I were walking along the
streets of India, I was somewhat horri
fied by the poverty and the deprivation,
particulary among the children, and I
resisted it for a long time. But Emilio
kept diving into the crowds, giving
away his shirt, his shoes, his trousers,
anything. He said, 'You've got to under
stand you can, get out of here anytime
you want. They will never leave.'. . . You
can close your eyes for so long before you
must surrender to what's in front of
you."
On the topic of South Africa, Sheen
criticized U.S. involvement in the
country and said the matter is simple
it is racism.
Sheen sprinkled a quick wit and
humor throughout his talk, especially
when talking about his present work.
Yet he managed to reveal a high level of
caring and humanity not common to
many of today's popular actors.
"Sure I travel a lot. It goes with the
trade. Most of the work I do these days
is for charity activities more than pro
motion. . . I don't go in for the very
'popular' diseases. I go for the ones
that not a lot of people get anymore but
are still with us.
"You might see me on TV this spring
telling how to do PGR (laughter), What
is it called? They really have a good
spokesman. . . 1 can't even swim."
In Sheen's professional work, he will
stand on the other side of the camera
for the first time. He will direct an
Afterschool Special about teen-age
pregnancies that will star another fam
ily member his daughter.
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